SPOILERS! Info. Re. What Happened at the 2/24/04 Taping!

[doppelgangwillow]

I spent a week in Los Angeles (heaven!) a couple of weeks ago & I was at the taping on Tuesday, February 24, 2004. The following contains SPOILERS for the next 2 eps. ("No Sex n' the City" & Courting Disaster"), but it also includes "behind-the-scenes" stuff that happens at tapings.

Tuesday, February 24, 2004...

Ok, going in...we had to wait a little while longer than normal b/c the cast was doing interviews behind the big black curtain, so we had to be very quiet. We couldn't see anything, but I could hear Megan talking. After the interview was over & TPTB told the audience we could talk again, out pops Megan from b/t the curtains! She's so cute in her "Megan clothes" (not dressed as Karen)...jeans, baby-t, tennis shoes, and pigtails. She thanks us for being so quiet (we give her a standing ovation).

Blah, blah, blah, one more interview we don't get to see. Then they fill us in that this is only a partial taping b/c Debra's on strict doctor's orders, etc. We are told that usually the 'A' story is filmed on Tuesdays & the 'B' story on Mondays & that Debra wasn't there on Monday, and that Meg & Sean weren't going to be seen much on Tuesday (aw, sad). After all the explaining, they start off by showing us what was taped earlier, which was Will teaching Karen to drive. This is hilarious! This is where Will first comes in contact with Bobby Cannavale's character, who plays a police officer that pulls Karen over. Long story short...Bobby's character forgets to sign the ticket, Will talks Karen into taking it to court. At the end of the clip, if Will let's the case go, Bobby's character will go out with him.

That's the end of that, and next is the introduction of the cast. First, is Sean Hayes. Then Eric and (a very preggers) Debra. She comes out holding her tummy and says, laughing, "You can't see anything can you?!" Sean holds his hands up like he's King of the World (or Jesus) Eric & Debra kinda surround him. Cute.

The first scene is shot in W&G's apartment and outside in the hallway. Deb is on the couch, then asks a prop guy for a magazine. She strategically places it in front of her belly, the audience laughs. Sean (as Jack) comes in, jumps on the couch & they crack jokes about Will's love life. Then they go to the door and listen, where Will & hot-date (Bobby C.) are outside the door talking. "Grace" & "Jack" each try to get a good listen and end up pushing on each other's faces. They have to shoot this scene a couple of times. Once, Sean runs in the door & jumps (literally big jump) on the couch & scares the bejesus out of Debra. She freaks, but laughs, and holds her tummy, grinning, mouthing "my baby." They go through this scene, Will comes in and he wants to call Bobby's character right away, but Grace tells him not to, b/c that would seem needy. Grace & Jack crack more jokes about Will while attempting to give him love-life advice. The best line comes when Will is talking about him being in his "early 30s" and Jack replies, "Dear, you, like your waist size, are not in your early 30s."

Next, scenes are changing & I look down onto the stage (or pretty much in front of me, I was sitting 2nd row center), and there is Megan, dressed like she was before, but with Karen hair & "diamond" earrings. They tell us that they have to shoot a pick-up scene. This is were the whole BeBe Neuwirth/Friends/Frasier/SatC storyline is explained to us. To change the scene, Sean goes into a back room (which would technically be Grace's room) & changes shirts, Eric takes off his tie & rolls up his sleeves. Debra goes to the back of W&G's apartment (where the couch & TV is) and gets under a blanket (still wearing the clothes (all black) from the first scene shot), Meg comes & joins her under the blanket (again, wearing Megan clothes!). They film, pretending to watch TV, which is supposedly "Frasier". They are playing the "Frasier" theme song, Jack & Karen start to kind of cry, & after the song ends, Debra's line is something along the lines of "What the hell does that song mean anyway?!" That was it. It was probably a scene for the ending credits. That was also it for Megan & Sean, the are re-introduced & we bid them adieu. (It's fun to know that when I'm watching it, I'll be like, "Ha, 'Karen' is wearing jeans & a baby tee under that blanket!")

The next scene is filmed in the coffee house with Eric & Bobby. "Will" wants to go on another date, but doesn't want to be the one to put it out there, to seem needy. The scene is so/so. Nothing real wonderful here. Eric has done a voice-over for this scene that's pretty cute.

The next scenes are shot b/t W&G's apartment & a new club. Debra is at the apartment, Will is at the Club (fyi...the song that continually plays is Beyonce's 'Baby Boy'). They go back & forth on filming these scenes b/c Will ends up calling Grace & asking for more advice, but Grace just admits that she's usually just "talking out of my ass."

The club scene is where Sharon Osbourne appears for all of about a millisecond. Ok, maybe a minute or two. She does play a bartender. She's really pretty good. After doing the scenes a couple of times, the writers go back & re-write lines. Sharon flubbed her new lines. She was supposed to say something that ended in the word "tit", but she said "teeth." She, in typical Osbourne fashion says "F**K! I was supposed to say "TIT!" Anyway, "the bartender" is giving Will advice on his love life. It ends all happy & Will & Bobby's character leave together.

In all of this, they stop taping for a moment to do an interview w/ Debra for the BBC. Steve Sandavol, behind the camera asks her questions to which she responds. That takes about 5 minutes.

Also, it is mentioned, someting about a W&G special on The Sharon Osbourne Show. I don't know any more than that. It was sort of a fleeting mention by some of TPTB, so I don't know if it was a "it's already been taped" or "we are thinking about doing it."

I had a great time, the audience was funny and the house band, as usual, was wonderful!

Other little "cute-sy" stuff...Sean would help Debra off of the couch. So, sweet...the audience "awwwwed". There is a script hiding behind the big coffee table during this ep. Debra puts it there before filming, but can't bend over to pick it up later!

[iluvjackandkaren]

thanks!

i can't wait to see the epi!

[SPLAIN]

Geez, that felt like i was actually THERE, thanks for all that!